Let me save you 3hrs. There were 8 people in the theater. The performances are very good, the cinematography is great, the audio was quite impressive with a lot of unexpected Atmos activity, however the plot was a train wreck within 5 minutes. I have really enjoyed some of the films of this director (Whiplash, First Man, La La Land) and was let down by this one. Even though it has multiple Golden Globe nominations, it really gets lost in itself. Ironically, I think it is affected by the very concept it is trying to convey - overindulgence and the "let's go with it" attitude. The point, I think, is there is a dark underbelly to film making and all of the drudgery and difficulty to achieve the on screen magic comes at a cost. That gets lost in the decadence and it unnecessarily drags the film down. He seems to have a love-hate relationship with Hollywood and at times it is hard to tell which one is winning. The gorgeous cinematography is done a disservice by the unpleasant tone.
